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ROTARYDOWNUNDER.ORG | 27 |
UNSUNG
HEROES
Through her skilful guidance and
advice, ROMAC has been able to
process an increasing number of
children whose lives have been saved
through emergency surgery. We
asked Moira to describe her work
for Auckland hospitals, and her
involvement with Rotary.
“People often ask me what my job
is, and it is a little difficult to explain.
I come from a nursing background
and, for over 30 years, I have been
involved in handling the arrangements
for medical treatment of patients from
around the Pacific Islands, both adults
and children. The work is much like
bringing together multiple strands of
thread to make a tapestry. It involves
not only the patients and their families
from almost all the Pacific Island
nations, but also the government
officials, doctors, hospitals, airlines and
funders in those nations, as well as
the hospitals, doctors, ancillary health
services, accommodation, transport
and local support in Auckland.
“My involvement with Rotary began
just over three years ago, when a
ROMAC committee member asked
me to explain what would be involved
in getting ROMAC children admitted
to Starship Children’s Hospital for
heart surgery. In the midst of all this
came the question: ‘Have you ever
considered joining Rotary?’
“I hadn’t, and the thought that I
Moira McGivern is a committee member with Rotary Oceania
Medical Aid for Children (ROMAC) NZ, and plays a vital role in
liaising between ROMAC NZ and the Auckland hospitals where
ROMAC children receive life-saving surgery.
Helping children in need for 30 years
should find out what it was about
passed without anything being done
about it, until the first ROMAC child
arrived for treatment. I agreed to go to
one of the Rotary Club of Henderson’s
meetings to learn more about Rotary
and ROMAC.
“I did not stop going to Rotary
meetings from that day onwards and
joined the ROMAC NZ committee a
short time later.
“The number of ROMAC children
treated here in Auckland has increased
from seven in 2013 to 20 in 2014. They
have come from Timor Leste, Vanuatu,
Fiji, Samoa and Kiribati mostly. When a
child is ill, there are never any boundaries
between the different nations, despite
language differences.
“There are absolutely no words to
describe the satisfaction of seeing the
joy on a mother’s face when a heart
is successfully mended, or the child
who could not walk more than a few
paces is able to run within a week or
two. The members of Rotary clubs
involved in sponsoring the children
are rewarded beyond measure. This is
where the money you so generously
donate goes, and on those children
and their parents’ behalf, for this I
sincerely thank you.”
ABOVE: Cardiac patient
Tarabou from Kiribati
with Moira McGivern.
RIGHT: Cardiac patient
Esmael from Timor
Leste, and father, with
Moira McGivern.
“The work is much
like bringing together
multiple strands
of thread to make
a tapestry.”